Forgiving and healing

Jesus Forgives & Heals a Paralytic9:1So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”3And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!”4But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 7And he arose and departed to his house.8Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men (Matt. 9:1-8).

Jesus presents a direct challenge to established religion when He pronounces forgiveness on the paralytic. Forgiveness of harm to another may be given by that person, but forgiveness for all sin is in God’s power only. To those who heard Jesus, they might consider Him to be crazy, or as the scribes thought, a blasphemous liar. Or He might be the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus makes clear by His own words, the testimony of John the Baptist, His miracles, and the writings of the prophets the truth of His statement (John 5:31-47).

Perhaps in this age we do not understand these verses fully because we do not take sin seriously. When we understand that sin is anything that separates us from God or from other people, we may begin to understand the magnitude of forgiveness. Jesus speaks to a man who is paralyzed as if He is bestowing the greatest gift: “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” This might read, “Son, be comforted; your sins are forgiven you.” To a paralyzed man, was forgiveness the thing for which he longed? Did anything change because of what Jesus said?Is it possible that we are healed just through the freedom of being forgiven?

I have seen a woman not need a cane because she let go of her anger. I have seen another woman, who apparently had suffered a stroke, speak of her difficult childhood while acupressure was applied to her back. Did her examination of her thoughts or the physical work on her body remove her need for a cane? A woman on her third microcurrent facial treatment asked if there was anything in the two previous treatments that might have caused her to quit thinking about suicide. Was it the small electric current applied to specific points on the face, or the conversations about the challenges of life that changed her thinking patterns? Surely you, too, have seen a person relax, perhaps even have joy, simply from a new way of perceiving the same world. The tense muscles let go; the strain releases; rigidity yields to looseness; bones and joints fall back into place; the body is at ease.

Our negative emotions, those such as fear and anger, can have debilitating effects. Oh yes, there are real physical causes for our diseases, our paralyses or other illnesses. We should not underestimate the power of our own thoughts, however. The longer we hold that tension, the more entrenched is the disability. We are less and less able to cope against the discouraging messages of our negative thoughts as every cell of the body responds. This sustained hopeless energy is hard to maintain.

Whether there was any change in the man before Jesus told him to “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house,” we cannot say. The man and those who carried him had faith sufficient to make this effort of coming to Jesus, and Jesus responded to their faith. The paralytic knew of Jesus, and he suspected that Jesus had authority for all that He said and did. The simple words of forgiveness well may have been enough for a man predisposed to believe and accept the pronouncement.

If some would charge that this healing was simply the placebo effect, the physical result brought about by positive thoughts, would it be any less a miracle? (“Placebo” is Latin, translated into English as “I shall please.”) The cure of sick thoughts is no less real than the cure of a sick body, and we know there is a strong mind-body connection. Contrast these men whose thoughts were those of faith with the scribes who thought evil in their hearts. Denying the truth before us is not difficult, but the consequences may be disastrous. We know what is true, but we prefer what we desire to believe. A quote attributed to Mark Twain says that it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. Once we commit ourselves to a line of thinking, a way of being, admitting the error and choosing the better way is more difficult. We seem hardwired not to admit to error. The University of Unlearning has a very stubborn student population.​ Paul’s warning to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5 NKJV) comes to mind again. The paralytic and those who carried him were open to a new perspective on God and life. The scribes had closed minds. By holding every thought captive, by faith in God’s intentions for us, we limit our openness to the negativity of life and open ourselves to the grace of God.Next article